


Epilogue: Waiting in the wings

by ceciliasol



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Post-Canon, Song: Waiting in the Wings (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29030544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceciliasol/pseuds/ceciliasol
Summary: Rapunzel reflects on Cassandra's departure from the Kingdom of Corona. A brief epilogue to the original series.
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Epilogue: Waiting in the wings

A month had passed since Cass left Corona, but to me it felt like decades. I never thought it would be possible to miss someone as much as I missed Cassandra then. Countless times I wished I could just drop everything and follow her into the unknown. But I couldn’t. I had a responsibility with my people. Though a part of me wanted to travel and see more of the world, another, growing part of me knew that I couldn’t be so reckless anymore. Perhaps that was a part of growing up.

Everyone seemed more busy than usual, these days. There weren’t enough hands available to work on rebuilding the city, so half of the royal guard had been assigned to help. A short-staffed royal guard meant my boyfriend, Eugene, now had twice as much work on his hands. Varian was hard to get a hold of. He said something about working on “something big” and half the time nobody knew where to find him. My parents were dealing with the diplomatic nightmare that came as consequence of Cassandra’s past actions. Adira had permanently returned to the Dark Kingdom. Angry and Carolina were actually going to school, and the life of a single parent was taking up Lance’s whole time. Even Shorty was busy trying to assemble an army of military-trained seagulls. So, whenever I wasn’t in the city helping people, I often found myself alone with Pascal in my room.

“Just you and me, pal,” I told him, as I leaned over the parapet and watched the city below. “Kind of brings back memories, doesn’t it? Us two, a room in a tower, a bunch of paint supplies… Say, what do you think Cassandra might be doing right now?”

Pascal shrugged. How was he supposed to know?

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I told him. “Would be nice if she sent us a postcard every now and then, don’t you think? Telling us about her adventures.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I said, without turning to look.

Eugene walked into the room. “Hey, Blondie,” he called. “Lance and the kids are going to the Snuggly Duckling, I thought you might like to come along.”

I turned around and stared at him. It was obvious that Eugene was trying to cheer me up, he must have realized I’ve been down these past few days. If only the Snuggly Duckling could offer a solution to my problems.

“Thanks, Eugene, really, but I’ll have to pass, this time.”

He frowned and started walking toward me.

“Hey, uh, I’ve been thinking… are you all right, Rapunzel?”

“Me? Of course I am,” I told him, and turned my eyes back out the window, to the gates of Corona. “Why do you ask?”

Eugene took a few steps toward me. “I just think you haven’t been yourself, lately. And it got me worried.”

“I’m fine,” I assured him.

My boyfriend sat by my side, near the window., and placed his hands over mine. “I meant to talk to you about something. It’s just that these past few weeks we’ve been so busy rebuilding Corona that we haven’t really stopped to talk about, well, ‘it’. You know what I mean?”

I sighed, feeling forlorn. Sometimes it really seemed that Eugene understood me better than anyone.

“You’re right. I suppose I’ve been avoiding the subject, a little. Trying to pretend that everything was fine. Even though I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Go on,” Eugene asked.

“It’s… scary, you know,” I told him. “I mean, it’s the right thing for both of us, and I suppose I always knew this would happen sooner or later. But now that it is happening, it’s… too sudden. I thought we would remain friends forever, It hurts to realize I was wrong.”

Eugene winced, slightly. “You’d rather remain friends?”

“Of course I would,” I said. “We were best friends, once. We trusted each other for everything. And I know it’s selfish of me to say it, but I just… wish we could go back to the way things were. I’m not ready for things to change.”

Eugene shifted in place, and pursed his lips. “I understand,” he said.

“You do?” I asked, raising my eyes to look at him.

“Yeah, of course,” said the man, a little downcast. “You don’t want to get married.”

I furrowed my brow and wondered about that for a moment.

“Well, I suppose I never even considered marrying her.”

“Wait, ‘her’?” Eugene asked, surprised. “Blondie… what exactly are you talking about, here?”

“Cassandra, of course,” I said. “I know we hadn’t been the best of friends these past few months, but I thought that, once everything was over, things could finally go back to the way they were. I hadn’t realized I would have to say goodbye to herso soon.”

Eugene chuckled. “Oh, _Cassandra!_ Of course. Haha. Obviously. I, err, thought we were talking about something else, here.” He got to his feet. “Aaaand now I feel like a fool, so I think I’m going to… err, check on the prisoners in the dungeon one more time? You know, got a job to do and everything. Busy busy busy.”

He walked backward until he was outside and closed the door. Pascal and I looked at each other, confused.

I sighed, got to my feet, and started walking around the room. “Maybe I’m exaggerating. I mean, this is what Cass had always dreamed of. I should feel happy for her, and I _am_ , Pascal. Really. It’s just… so lonely when a person you love goes away and you’re the one left behind to wait for them.”

My eyes fell upon the picture I had painted of Cassandra and I, all those years ago. Thing used to be so simple, back then. I took her for granted, and just now was beginning to realize how wrong that was. My eyes lingered at the travel journal over the desk, which I had left open on one of the latest entries.

A drawing of Cassandra and I, locked inside a cage of rocks, while Zhan Tiri walked away with both the Sundrop and the Moonstone. In the drawing, Cassandra was offering me the shard: the last remaining piece of the moonstone, the one that now hung over my chest as a necklace. “Plus est en vous”, I had written.

The next drawing pictured the moment I took the Gem of Sun and Moon in my hands and sang the Sundrop Incantation to bring Cassandra back to life. I had never been so scared in my life.I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t survive taking the Gem, but I was ready to sacrifice everything for even the slightest chance of bringing her back.

The last drawing in that series was my favorite. I had drawn Cassandra and I, sitting side-by-side at what had remained of my bedroom after the battle. It was the moment when Cass and I declared our feelings for each other, but also the moment when I realized I could never ask her to remain with me in the castle. That she was a free spirit, born to chase her own destiny, and I was a princess and had a Kingdom to care for.

I loved her so much, at that moment. If only I could see her again…

If I could see her again, I think I knew exactly what to say.

_Guess we all are born with parts to play._

_Some of us are meant to go and some bound to stay._

_I know you have dreamed of glory,_

_Only now I know what all that means._

_It means I’ll keep on waiting._

_I guess things are never what they seem._

_You showed me your heart and I felt lost in a dream._

_I thought we could write our story,_

_I thought we’d achieve amazing things._

_You left me waiting in the wings._

_I watched you soar,_

_And yet I kept on waiting._

_I wished for more,_

_But still I stood there waiting._

_And now you’re somewhere else, it stings_

_That I’m left waiting in the wings._

_And so I keep on holding on._

_You came to me, but when I blinked you were_ _gone._

_Locked within these walls from the start,_

_Now you’re free and finally your heart sings,_

_But it stings, yes it stings._

_And I’ll shed no tears,_

_I’ll only keep on waiting._

_Days, months or years,_

_Well, I can keep on waiting._

_When you return_

_From chasing dreams_

_You’ll find me waiting in the wings._

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this as a longer work, with multiple chapters and an actual plot. I might or might not write that story in the future. But for now, I figured this works well enough as it is.


End file.
